Here's proof You Better Set the Rules Early or Your Team Will Do It For You

Early in my career, I was working for one of the largest providers of
lawn care in the country.

I started with this company at the same time as another kid, he was 19 or
20.

Well this kid set the entire sales floor on fire. Within a week he out sold the best salesman on the floor by nearly 2 to 1. A month after his hiring, he brought in more business in a week than me in over a
month.

Everyone, including our sales manager, was really in awe of this sales
wonderkid.

But, unfortunately bad habits started to show. He couldn't make it to work on time or at all. When not selling, he past time on the phone with his girlfriend. Since he
brought in so much business, the boss overlooked his tardiness, rudeness, and
absenteeism.

After all, he made our sales manager look like a genius. We were far and
away the highest producing sales team in the entire national organization
(thanks much in part to this kid). . .

. . . this went on for four months. All the while the lateness and absences
continued. As you can guess, the general moral on the team waned.

Never Accept the Unacceptable

Left and right, senior management layed off salespeople for not meeting their sales
quotas. This kid held on because he really only needed to work a couple of hours
to hit his quota for the week.

But all around him chaos ensured. People started coming in late; one guy came
in wearing shorts; some folks stopped showing up at all.

Needless to say, we were no longer the #1 sales team in the country! By this
point, the sales manager had the brass breathing down his neck and a full-blown
sales team mutiny on his hands.

Just by looking the other way from one star employee's unacceptable behavior, senior management reassigned (somewhere in Siberia I think) my sales manager to sell lawn care somewhere else , and the star employee ended up going to jail for stealing a
car.

What was the final outcome? I don't know, I quit long before that forth
month was up. I knew I didn't want to be part of that dysfunctional
organization.

Get certified in Risk Management through our completely on-line training system. Study at your own pace.

Business management is a slippery slope.

After all managers are people too. They have the same desire to be liked by
the people they work with as well. So often they accept the unacceptable from
their employees. Don't let the inmates run the prison.